Dr. Kiser is named chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UNC

Andy C. Kiser, M.D., has been named chief of the UNC Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, effective July 1, 2011.

Dr. Kiser is a cardiothoracic surgeon who joined UNC as professor of surgery on Nov. 1, 2010. He is recognized as an international leader in arrhythmia surgery, having pioneered the paracardioscopic procedures to treat atrial fibrillation. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American College of Cardiology, and the American College of Chest Physicians.

Dr. Kiser, a native of Moore County, N.C., earned his M.D. degree at UNC-Chapel Hill and completed his training in both General and Cardiothoracic Surgery at UNC, finishing in 2000. He practiced cardiac and thoracic surgery in Pinehurst until he joined the UNC faculty in November 2010. Since his return to UNC, Dr. Kiser has increased his clinical activity in minimally invasive cardiac and thoracic surgery, heart failure, and transplantation.

He replaces Michael R. Mill, M.D., who led the division as interim chief from 1998 to 1999 and as chief from 2000 to 2011.

Dr. Mill came to UNC in 1988 to be director of the UNC Heart and Heart-Lung Transplant programs. He performed both the first heart-lung transplant and the first pediatric heart-lung transplant in North Carolina. He has served as Director of the UNC Comprehensive Transplant Center since 1994 and has performed 150 heart transplants, including 50 pediatric heart transplants, here. He also started the mechanical cardiac assist device program at UNC. He specializes in pediatric cardiac surgery and will continue to serve as a faculty member and attending physician at UNC.

“The Department of Surgery especially appreciates the 13 years that Dr. Mill has provided strong leadership for the division, and his continued direction of the congenital heart surgery program,” said Anthony Meyer, chairman of the UNC Department of Surgery.

Dr. Mill has been active on regional and national levels with Carolina Donor Services, the United Network for Organ Sharing, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Congenital Heart Surgeons Society, and the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association. He helped the American Board of Thoracic Surgery develop the requirements for the first specialty certification in congenital cardiac surgery and in 2009 became one of the first physicians to earn that certification.

Dr. Mill was director of the UNC cardiothoracic surgery residency program during his time as chief. He served on the Residency Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and participated in writing the requirements for the six-year integrated residency in cardiothoracic surgery, which enables medical-school graduates to enter a cardiothoracic residency straight from medical school and streamline their surgical training. (Previously, the path to becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon included about eight years of training after medical school.)

Dr. Mill earned an M.D. at the University of Colorado and did his residency in General Surgery there. He completed a residency in Thoracic Surgery and a fellowship in Heart and Heart-Lung Transplantation at Stanford University, where he trained with pioneering heart surgeon Norman Shumway.

Dr. Meyer said he would work with Dr. Kiser “to continue to further the goals of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery.” There are seven surgeons and six physician extenders in the division, which offers advanced treatments for a wide range of diseases and problems.

The division “is committed to caring for patients with complex cardiovascular problems such as aortic dissection, advanced heart failure, chronic atrial fibrillation, and lung or esophageal cancer,” Dr. Kiser said. “Collaboration is important, both within UNC Hospitals and statewide. Our vision is to develop more clinical partnerships with our colleagues.”